Find an installation directory in the registry; more reliable than file system path search.

Get-InstallationPath.ps1

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Gets the installation directory for a program in the registry.

.DESCRIPTION
Get-InstallationPath gets the installation path for a program in the InstallProperties registry key. This method is much more reliable and change-resistant than searching the file system with partial paths.
.
The function returs a custom object with the DisplayName, Publisher, and InstallationPath so you can confirm that the path returns is for the intended program.
.
If the script cannot find the installation path for the program, it generates a non-terminating error.

.PARAMETER ProgramName
Specify the name of the program installed on the local system. Get-InstallationPath returns the installation directory of the specified program. Wildcard characters are supported.

.EXAMPLE
Get-InstallationPath -ProgramName "*PowerShell*Studio*"

DisplayName            Publisher                 InstallPath                                                       
-----------            ---------                 -----------                                                       
PowerShell Studio 2016 SAPIEN Technologies, Inc. C:\Program Files\SAPIEN Technologies, Inc\PowerShell Studio 2016\ 

.EXAMPLE
if (($result = Get-InstallationPath -ProgramName "*PowerShell*Studio*").Publisher -like "*SAPIEN*")
        { $path = $result.InstallPath }

PS C:\> $path
C:\Program Files\SAPIEN Technologies, Inc\PowerShell Studio 2016\ 

This command checks the publisher value before saving the installation directory in the $path variable.

.EXAMPLE
Get-InstallationPath -ProgramName NotThere

Get-InstallationPath : Cannot find installation directory for NotThere                              
At line:1 char:1                                                                                    
+ Get-InstallationPath -ProgramName NotThere                                                        
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~                                                        
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException                  
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Get-InstallationPath

.OUTPUTS
PS

.NOTES
Additional information about the function.
#>
function Get-InstallationPath
{
	[CmdletBinding()]
	[OutputType([PSCustomObject])]
	Param
	(
		[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
		[SupportsWildcards()]
		[string]
		$ProgramName
	)
	
	$result = @()
	if ($inst = Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\*\Products\*\InstallProperties" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
	{
		$inst | Where-Object {
			($DisplayName = $_.getValue('DisplayName')) -like $ProgramName
		} |
		ForEach-Object 	{
			$result += [PSCustomObject]@{
				'DisplayName' = $displayName
				'Publisher' = $_.getValue('Publisher')
				'InstallPath' = $_.getValue('InstallLocation')
			}
		}
	}
	else
	{
		Write-Error "Cannot get the InstallProperties registry keys."
	}
	
	if ($result)
	{
		return $result
	}
	else
	{
		Write-Error "Cannot get the InstallProperties registry key for $ProgramName"
	}
}